


to keep living

by aetherae



Category: Mononoke-hime | Princess Mononoke, Tales of Vesperia
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, F/M, another extremely self-indulgent au, sorry (not really)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 00:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13582368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aetherae/pseuds/aetherae
Summary: When Yuri seeks trouble to the west, he finds a girl with eyes the color of jade.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> "just how many freakin' aus do you have for yuri/estelle" oh buddy, don't even get me started on that. once again though, welcome to a mess of a snippet collection. i've attempted to organize what i have as chronologically as possible. any new additions will just be added on though. if i ever actually finish this project (unsure) i'll probably just repost the whole thing and have everything be organized chronologically there. without further ado though, please enjoy my self-indulgent princess mononoke yuri/estelle au garbage.

Yuri Lowell is not a prince. He is not a prince, nor a member of the tribe council, or even a high-ranking member of the guard. Yuri Lowell is simply a man born to a dying race, hidden in a village that was hidden from the world. Society had cast their ancestors aside ages ago, driving them to the corner of the country. If the world had no intention of helping them in their affairs, they would cut ties with the affairs of the world as well—so the legend went, according to Hanks anyways. Their people remained closed off ever since.

They tried to, at least.

That changes when a raging something—god or demon, spirit or ghost, he doesn’t know—curses him to die. The creature had burst forth from the forest, transparent and unintelligent but oozing poison from its body; the ground died where it dripped, and Yuri drew his blade, Repede growling by his side.

He was never careful when it came to intruders, brazenly skilled at slaying monsters and humans alike before they could find the village. This time, he paid the price for it.

Just as it died, the creature reached out, black and purple tendrils twisting around his arm, trying to break it. His skin burned where it touched, dissolving the sleeve of his shirt to sear into flesh, and even after he tore them off, it left marks on his skin the same color as its poison.

“I can’t say I know exactly what it is,” Hanks tells him later, after the village elders have seen the mark, seen what destiny it’s given him, “but it’s a doozy. At this rate, it’ll kill you from the inside out.”

“Isn’t that cheerful. It’ll be the first time a monster’s managed to hurt me even after it’s dead at least.”

“At least try to take this seriously, will you?”

“I am,” he says, half-laughing but with his eyes on the horizon. To die without even ever taking one step out of here, without knowing anything… How sad that would’ve been.

Hanks sees his gaze though, says, “There’s a rumor that trouble is brewing to the west. I don’t know what it is, but it’s strange, from what I’ve heard. If there’s any chance of killing that curse, you’ll find it there.”

“What, and leave all of you here by yourselves? What’ll happen if another one of those shows up?”

“Meaning that you’d rather stay cooped up here, patiently counting down the days till you die? That doesn’t sound like the Yuri I know.”

He looks at Hanks, Hanks who already has his gaze elsewhere, and opens his mouth only for silence to come out. Repede barks at him, and Yuri looks down where scarred companion’s tail wags behind him, impatient and hurried.

There’s only one answer.

“You’ll always be welcome back here, y’know,” Hanks tells him as he turns around, heading back towards the village. “So hurry up and come visit again sometime.”

“Yeah,” Yuri laughs, eyes bright even as his arm stings. Repede’s already running ahead of him. “I will.”

Yuri Lowell leaves his village, and heads west.


	2. Chapter 2

He hadn’t meant to spy, in all honesty. After finding two stragglers unconscious at the river’s shore, he traveled further down seeking other potential survivors. Survivors of what, he couldn’t say, but it was obvious enough from the two he found that there was a conflict of _some_ sort at the very last. It was then that the air shifted, changed just so slightly, that it was enough to make him curious—but also enough to know that whatever was happening, it was not to be disturbed.

Taking cover behind the wreckage of a former tree, Yuri peeks through what space he can when he sees them across the river. There’s a large animal with brown and white fur, unlike any sort of animal he’s ever seen before. He thinks it’s almost deer-like, if deer had their antlers as a tail instead of actual antlers. Beside it is an even larger creature; he would call it a woman if he wasn’t sure that the sight before him wasn’t human. With teal skin, blue hair, and swathed in robes made in a fabric he’s never seen, the first word that comes to mind is “heavenly”. Her eyes remain closed, but he has no doubt that she can see. What’s more worrying is the large gash on her forearm, showing at least that even the otherworldly bleed red.

“Undine! Come here, let me see your wound.”

A rush of white fur runs towards the blue woman, and for a moment, he assumes that there are more of the deer-like one. The size is all wrong though, and more than that, even from this distance he can make out the shock of hair the color of peach blossoms. A human girl, then. Upon reaching the blue one, she inspects the wound closely before pressing her lips to it, sucking out the bad blood then spitting it out.

Yuri realizes that he’s found the other side of the conflict.

And those across the river realize they have a guest.

The deer-like one snaps to attention, ears pressed flat against its head as it looks in his direction. He’s sure that it sees him perfectly. The girl whips around, spitting out the last of the blood and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She looks in his direction, eyes wide, somewhere between wary and hostile. Her eyes look like pure jade.

He has never seen anything more beautiful.

“Hey!” he calls, standing on top of the tree trunk. “I take it this is the Spirits’ Forest? And that I’ll find the Great Forest Spirit here?”

They continue to stand there, watching him, before the blue one turns. She walks into the forest without sparing a second glance at him. The girl looks at her, then back at him, before hopping onto the back of the deer-like spirit. It walks towards the forest as well, but the girl shoots him one last look.

“Leave this place!”

Yuri watches them go until they disappear into the endless trees. The air returns to normal, but he remains standing there. The wind blows, the river continues to babble beneath his feet, yet still, he looks across the river.

There’s no reason for it. He can’t explain it. But he wants to see that girl again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for reference: gnome is big enough to ride on, and undine is even bigger than that. the fact that they’re more or less human-sized in canon doesn’t really work for princess mononoke……


	3. Chapter 3

“Augh! What are these things?!” Karol shouts, waving his arms about. Tiny, pale people have appeared, weaving in and out of the trees without fuss. They run easily, some passing between Yuri’s feet or hopping onto Repede’s tail; sometimes, they look like they’re smiling.

“Will you shut up?” Rita grumbles, but she tries to wave off one that’s appeared on her shoulder as well. It hops off, fading away as it runs towards the root of a tree. “They’re probably spirits or something, just like everything in this stupid forest.”

Yuri watches the small creatures, half-laughing as they continue running ahead of them, guiding them almost. “They’re called Kodama. Them being around usually means the forest’s in good health. You didn’t know that?”

Rita waves it off. “They’re just spirits. Not exactly my expertise.”

“Not very fond of them, are you?”

“Well, yeah. They use up more of our aer,” Karol says, gingerly clutching at his left arm. The sudden movement must have jolted enough pain to remind him of his wound there. “It’s kinda hard to like them when we need that aer to live.”

Yuri nods, understanding but not quite sympathizing. In their isolation, he and his people had only heard of the blastia technology. They’d learned to get by well enough without it, consuming neither aer nor mana with what little they did have.

“I’ve heard some spirits’re pretty powerful though. You’re not afraid of them getting mad at you?”

Rita snorts. Three hours since their first meeting, and already, he doesn’t have to look at her to know she’s rolling her eyes. “Oh, please. As if the Entelexeia would actually let those freakshows do anything.”

She pauses, and he thinks she’s done speaking until a quiet laugh. “Actually, it’s Judith the spirits should be afraid of. If she had her way, there wouldn’t be a single one of those spirits left.”

Yuri has never been a particularly faithful sort of person. He knew of the spirits, he knew of the Entelexeia, and he treated both the same: distantly, but with respect. As living legends, almost. Despite his confidence, his ease with disrespect, even he knew that to turn one away was to invite trouble—and not the sort of trouble one could easily escape with a simple slash of the sword.

Trouble to the west, indeed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh right, this whole thing came about because of a pixiv log i'd seen where vesperia characters were dressed as princess mononoke characters. iirc yuri was ashitaka, estelle was san, and judith was eboshi. i say "iirc" as sadly it seems the log has been deleted...

“Look over there.” Judith nods her head forward, and Yuri turns. Past the border of the village proper is a patch of dirt and charred wood, and when Yuri squints his eyes, he sees what looks like apes.

“Spirits, I’m guessing?”

“Without a doubt.”

It’s hard to see in the darkness, but Yuri thinks they must be holding something as they clear out the burnt wood and ash from the ground. Planting something then, maybe. When he turns back to Judith, she has her spear in her hand, and she tests the edge of the blade with her finger. Even as she barely pokes it, it draws blood. Her smile widens.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just let ‘em plant? More resources and all that.” He looks back past the village, watches the spirits scurry about the ground. They look small, their dark figures easily lost amongst the black expanse of the dirt at night.

“There’s always other forests,” Judith says, resting her spear against her shoulder. “Besides, they’re trying to rebuild _their_ forest. The Spirits’ forest.”

“It’s not just Spirits in there.”

She raises an eyebrow, laughing softly. “Oh, did you see her? That Princess Mononoke—princess of ghouls and goblins, protector of Spirits and the moon. It all sounds fantastic, don’t you think?”

“Karol told me she got her heart eaten by a Spirit, and that’s why she’s hanging around there.” He’s never seen a Spirit get violent—assuming what attacked his village wasn’t a Spirit, at least—but seeing the apes’ dark visage in the night, thinking about the Kodama passing in and out of the forest like ghosts, it’s easy to imagine someone taking what they don’t know and twisting it into a story.

“I think,” Judith says as she lifts her spear again, weighing it in her hand, “that girl is simply doing what she believes needs to be done.”

She looks out past the village towards the Spirits, carefully marking where they are with her spear. With a single move of her arm, she throws it. The spear flies, arcing through the air, until it lands on the ground where the apes are, steel lightning striking their tree saplings. The Spirits scatter, and Yuri wouldn’t be surprised if one of the saplings was cut clean in half.

“And I will do the same.”


	5. Chapter 5

She stands on a rooftop, silent and waiting as the wind pushes her forward. The villagers look up in shock, maybe even fear, and Yuri thinks he hears Karol gasp something like, “It’s her, the spirit princess!”

Judith doesn’t though. Judith doesn’t gasp or panic or anything, just looks up at the girl on the roof with an easy, calm smile, her spear resting against her shoulders.

He thinks she must have been waiting for this.

But so has the girl.

Yuri can’t see her eyes from here, not with the mask and a cloud of fur trailing behind it like smoke, but he thinks he can imagine. Bright, bright green, the color of jade chipped away into a blade. Her jaw must be clenched behind her mask, brow furrowed and mouth set—not in anger, but in determination. Resignation.

That girl has come here to kill Judith, he knows. Judith knows too. And so, he’s sure the girl knows that she’s also come here to die.

He won’t let that happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> annnd another one that's been long in the works. since 2015 i think. whoops.


End file.
